How do I eliminate duplicated securities in Quicken Mac2017?

Unknown

I have been using Quicken 2014 on a Windows computer. It imported nicely into the Mac with newly purchased Quicken Mac2017, but when I downloaded transactions from Fidelity, most securities were duplicated, and I cannot find a way to eliminate the duplicates.

James Sapp

Go to the transaction page and delete the duplicate transactions.

RickO

Open the Securities window (menu Window > Securities)

Select a duplicate (that's not used in any transactions), then hit the keyboard Delete key, then Enter for OK.

You can select multiple securities by holding down the Command key while you select them. This will allow you to delete a whole bunch at once. Each security you delete must be the copy that is not used in any transactions; otherwise Quicken will not let you delete it.

Hope that helps. I do not know of any way to automatically delete unused securities.

Unknown

I think Stephen meant duplicate transactions. This is a continuing problem with Quicken and whether it is Quicken or just some brokerage houses I can't say. I do know I get duplicate transactions with Quicken 2017 for Mac and RBC Wealth Management.

RickO

BruceG said:

I think Stephen meant duplicate transactions. This is a continuing problem with Quicken and whether it is Quicken or just some brokerage houses I can't say. I do know I get duplicate transactions with Quicken 2017 for Mac and RBC Wealth Management.

Well, if he means transactions, then I'll 2nd James Sapp's suggestion: go to the transactions view and delete the duplicates. You can use Command-click to select multiple not consecutive transactions to delete a batch at once.

I download from Fidelity and I never get duplicates, either transactions or securities. So hopefully this is a one-time issue for the OP.

Concordman

I download from WF ,  had duplicates early on , deleted them , never saw them again

Unknown

I am talking about duplicate securities, not transactions. I have just imported into Quicken Mac2017 a 10+ year wealth of background data and securities positions. When I then linked it to my Fidelity accounts, most of the securities positions were duplicated, so there are two separate positions listed for the same securities. They have the same CUSIP (?) so when I try to delete one of them from the securities list, it won't let me do it, saying they are in use.  This is not a matter of deleting individual transactions.

RickO

Stephen said:

I am talking about duplicate securities, not transactions. I have just imported into Quicken Mac2017 a 10+ year wealth of background data and securities positions. When I then linked it to my Fidelity accounts, most of the securities positions were duplicated, so there are two separate positions listed for the same securities. They have the same CUSIP (?) so when I try to delete one of them from the securities list, it won't let me do it, saying they are in use.  This is not a matter of deleting individual transactions.

So, for a given security, are you saying the that the quantity shown in the portfolio is double what it should be? That would be a transaction problem. Or you may see placeholder transactions that Quicken is inserting to try to make your share balances match Fidelity. (They are shown in gray in the register.) It may do this if duplicate transactions are causing the share balances not to agree with Fidelity.

If you look in the Securities window as I described above, do you see these securities listed twice with the exact same name? If so, there's definitely a database problem as Quicken will not normally let you create two securities with the same name. The CUSIP and Symbol don't matter; it's the security name that Quicken requires to be unique. 

If both the situations above are true, then if you are able to fix the transaction situation by deleting the duplicate transactions. This might then allow you to delete one of the pair of duplicate securities.

Another solution may just be to start over with your Fidelity accounts. Delete the accounts and securities and then re-create the accounts and download without importing from your old file. You would, however, lose some historical transaction detail as Fidelity will only download transactions for a limited past timeframe.

Unknown

If you don't have duplicate transaction for that security, then you can go to your securities list and merge the two securities with the same name and CUSIP. Also, make sure the number of shares for that security is correct. I would also suggest you do this in a copy of your data file, that way if something strange or tragic happens you can revert back to your original file and try again. BTW- if you haven't already found out, your data is stored in Your_Drive:Users:Your_home_name:Library:Application Support:Quicken 2017:Documents.

RickO

BruceG said:

If you don't have duplicate transaction for that security, then you can go to your securities list and merge the two securities with the same name and CUSIP. Also, make sure the number of shares for that security is correct. I would also suggest you do this in a copy of your data file, that way if something strange or tragic happens you can revert back to your original file and try again. BTW- if you haven't already found out, your data is stored in Your_Drive:Users:Your_home_name:Library:Application Support:Quicken 2017:Documents.

Good point about merging the securities. 

The location of the data file depends on where you bought Quicken and whether you may have moved it. To find your data file, see here:

https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-mac-faq-default-location-of-data-file-cr...

Unknown

Stephen said:

I am talking about duplicate securities, not transactions. I have just imported into Quicken Mac2017 a 10+ year wealth of background data and securities positions. When I then linked it to my Fidelity accounts, most of the securities positions were duplicated, so there are two separate positions listed for the same securities. They have the same CUSIP (?) so when I try to delete one of them from the securities list, it won't let me do it, saying they are in use.  This is not a matter of deleting individual transactions.

I have the same problem...but only with one security in each of 2 Fidelity accounts.

Rich Waldschmidt

RickO's comment was very helpful. I too had duplicate security entries in my QfM2017 which I converted from QfM20017. The dup's showed up the first time I updated the accounts online. It seems that QfM2007 used the unique symbol to identify the security and now uses the name to do that. Over time I had edited the names of the securities to shorten them, or never even updating them (from PhilMo to Altria, for example). So I guess I need to go back to my 2007 file and update each security name that match what gets downloaded. Seems that the symbol approach was more foolproof. Thank you though!

Rich Waldschmidt

Thank you for the tip, RickO. It seems that QfM2007 used the unique symbol to identify securities and now QfM2017 uses the verbose security name. Over time I had edited the names of securities in QfM2007. The result was that once I converted from 2007 to 2017, and then updated the account online, I got two line items for each security, one with my edited name (and historical cost basis), and another with the name the institution uses (without cost basis data). I wonder why the unique security symbol was not good enough? Anyway, I now know how to work around. Thanks!

Rich Waldschmidt

Rich Waldschmidt said:

Thank you for the tip, RickO. It seems that QfM2007 used the unique symbol to identify securities and now QfM2017 uses the verbose security name. Over time I had edited the names of securities in QfM2007. The result was that once I converted from 2007 to 2017, and then updated the account online, I got two line items for each security, one with my edited name (and historical cost basis), and another with the name the institution uses (without cost basis data). I wonder why the unique security symbol was not good enough? Anyway, I now know how to work around. Thanks!

It turns out this is a little more tedious to do than I thought. I'm sure the QfM team is tired of hearing from Old People lamenting about how it worked in the Good Old Days, but this change from using an already unique field (symbol) to a non unique field (verbose name) baffles me. There seems to be a bias in the new work flows toward accepting what the institution says as gospel. That and starting from scratch. I'll be delaying upgrading for a bit longer. By then my institution's site might be adequate for my needs and I won't need a Quicken.